Another landslide in Kootenays

Photograph by: The Castlegar Source
, Facebook

Heavy rains caused mudslides and severe flooding in the West Kootenays on Tuesday, leading to evacuations and the temporary closure of Highway 3A in both directions just north of Castlegar.

Set off by a thunderstorm, the slides occurred in the hamlet of Thrums late Tuesday afternoon. Mud, water and debris obstructed the highway, leaving no detours available, several homes at risk, businesses flooded and creeks overflowing, according to a Kootenay Boundary RCMP release.

Residents in three homes closest to the slides were evacuated, said Frances Maika of the Central Kootenay Regional District.

Facebook photos show Castlegar residents wading through flooded streets, front yards, an A&W drive-through and a Canadian Tire parking lot. One man was depicted rowing down a street in Nelson, where heavy rains also caused major flooding.

Jennifer Peters commuted past the slide on her way home from work shortly before the detour was closed by emergency crews.

"I don't know of anyone being really hurt or anything terrible coming of this," she said.

There have been no reports of injuries or serious damage. The highway reopened around 7:00 p.m., and the evacuees have voluntarily chosen to remain away from their homes tonight.

Area resident Leslie Bergeron heard sirens go by her house on the highway shortly after 4 p.m., but said recent mudslides have been an anomaly for the area.

"I am at the base of a mountain, and I'm really hoping I'm not in danger," she said.

The mudslides come two days after a slide at Fairmont Springs stranded 500 campers north of Cranbrook, and less than a week after a landslide ripped through Johnsons Landing, another Kootenays hamlet, burying homes and four people beneath a morass of mud, rocks, broken trees and debris.

All three slides occurred within 100 kilometres of each other, as mountain snow melt continues along with persistent warm weather across southern B.C..